Prime Focus Leads the Way to DI with Discreet Systems
M.VINO
"Bollywood
filmmakers are welcoming the DI process. The feature set Autodesk Media
& Entertainment
is providing in Discreet® Lustre® is truly
exceptional. The system's color grading, keying, tracking, and
automated dust busting tools greatly assist the DI project flow and
help us offer the best quality, service,
and experience for our
clients."
- Namit Malhotra, Managing Director, Prime Focus Limited
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 The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey. Image courtesy of Kaliedosc |
Prime
Focus Limited (PFL) has continually been spearheading the use of
advanced technologies for post
production and visual effects in India.
Since it launched in Mumbai in a small garage in 1997, the company
has
grown rapidly in size and scope to become India's largest
post-production and visual effects services
house. PFL is consistently
adapting in the face of evolving client needs. PFL's full service
capabilities empower
filmmakers, advertising filmmakers, and television
producers with the newest tools and techniques to refine their
work in
the post-production and production environment.
One of the
biggest areas of recent growth has been digital intermediate (DI) for
film. Prime Focus put together
a technically advanced workflow very
early on and by mid 2003 had completed the country's first DI feature.
Since
then, the facility has continued to introduce the benefits of DI to top
Indian film clients, and has completed
approximately 30 full-length
features in the short span of 18-24 months. To its slate of credits are
films ranging
from the award-winning 2005 movie "Black," from director
Sanjay Leela Bhansali, to titles such as "The Rising,"
"Paheli,"
"Sarkar," "Mujhse Shadi Karoge," "Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose,"
"Gayab," "Musafir," "Dus,"
"Life Ho To Aisi," and "Naach."
"We
were the first in India to purchase a Discreet® Lustre® system and it
has completely changed our workflow
for the better," commented Rohan
Desai, Prime Focus' Digital Intermediate Supervisor. "Now many more
facilities
– and filmmakers -- on the continent are embracing Lustre
and its powerful color grading, keying, tracking,
dust-busting, and
other amazing capabilities."
Integrated DI for Indian – and International -- Filmmakers
DI
is indeed taking off among Indian filmmakers, who are recognizing the
timesaving and artistic benefits of working
off a single digital
master. The experience of doing a DI at Prime Focus, which is also
equipped with an impressive
total of 17 Discreet® Smoke® /Discreet®
Fire® systems alongside the most current installations of Discreet®
Inferno®
and Discreet® Flame® systems for all areas of high-end visual
creation, is encouraging filmmakers to integrate more
visual effects
elements into Indian films.
"Pipeline robustness, flexibility,
and integration of various components are essential for the colorist
and the supervisor alike,"
Desai said. "Discreet Lustre helps creative
jobs flow more smoothly with strong compatibility with other DI tools
and
Discreet visual effects systems such as Fire and Inferno. There's
a global trend in filmmaking towards increased visual
effects, and
Lustre is helping our clients evolve towards this direction."
In
addition to helping shape Indian demand for DI and VFX, Prime Focus
with its strategic partnerships is providing
global clients turnkey
film production services. For the film "American Daylight," shot in HD
and produced out of the
United Kingdom, the company handled everything
from equipment rental to the final release print.
"When we started out in this industry, we were the absolute underdog," Malhotra concluded. "But we realized that by
always
staying ahead of the curve and being the first to adopt the new tools
and technologies such as Discreet
systems from Autodesk we could bring
a higher level and quality of service to our clients while expanding
our reach.
That's been a true source of pride as we have grown, both
in size and scope."
Prime Focus Ltd. (PFL) is India's biggest
integrated end–to-end post-production and visual effects services
house.
PFL offers a comprehensive spectrum of services ranging from
visual effects, digital film lab (digital intermediate,
high-resolution
film scanning and film recording), telecine, offline and online editing
and motion control to High
Definition production. The company's
creative talent has worked with India's leading feature film and ad
film directors
and producers and continues to extend its services to
international clients as well. For more information about
Prime Focus Limited, please visit www.primefocus.co.in.
--
"Life is hard. After all, it kills you" - Katharine Hepburn